Sports

Tuesday, May 25, 1999

Eagles start `99 football season on road

PECOS, May 25 -- There isn't much difference in the Pecos Eagles' 1999
varsity football schedule from the one they played in 1998, and the Eagles
are hoping that the results -- at least during the District 2-4A portion
of the schedule -- also remain pretty much the same.

The Eagles will play the same schedule of opponents as a year ago but
with home sites reversed on all their games except for the season opener,
on Sept. 2 at Odessa's Ratliff Stadium against the Denver City Mustangs.
It's the first of three straight road games the Eagles will play to open
up the 1999 schedule, with their first home game not coming until Sept.
24, when the Crane Golden Cranes come to town.

The neutral site opener takes the place of a Pecos home game this year,
leaving Pecos with just four games at Eagle Stadium during the 1999 season.
Last year's game at Ratliff took the place of a Denver City home game.

Denver City and Crane are two of the four teams new head coach Gary
Grubbs would like to see different results against. Pecos lost to the Cranes
and Mustangs last year, while Kermit, this year's homecoming opponent on
Oct. 1, handed the Eagles their other pre-district defeat.

Pecos then went 4-1 in District 2-4A play to share the district title
with Canutillo and earn their first trip to the playoffs in 23 years. Canutillo
handed the Eagles their only district loss last year, and the Eagles will
get a chance to avenge that on Oct. 29, a week after they'll play what
is supposed to be their tougher game in district this year, an Oct. 22
matchup with Clint on the Lions' home field.

Schedules for the Eagles' junior varsity and freshman teams have also
been reversed from a year ago, with the exception of dropping two games
between Pecos' ninth graders and Wink's JV. The freshman won't play their
home opener until Oct. 14, when Crane comes to town, but the ninth graders
will begin their home schedule with their season opener against Denver
City on Sept. 3.

Pecos' two scrimmage games also are the same as a year ago, with the
sites reversed. They'll play their first scrimmage on Aug. 20 in Monahans
against the Loboes, then travel to Midland on Aug. 27 to scrimmage the
Greenwood Rangers.

Knicks complete sweep by finishing off Hawks

By HAL BOCKAP Sports WriterNEW YORK, May 25 -- All of a sudden, No. 8 is in the Final Four of
the NBA playoffs.

And what's more, the New York Knicks suddenly look like a powerhouse,
perhaps energized by a political maelstrom that accompanied their four-game
sweep of the Atlanta Hawks.

The Knicks threw a defensive shroud over the outmanned Hawks, completing
the second-round sweep with a 79-66 victory Monday night that thrust New
York into the Eastern Conference finals against Indiana. The Knicks are
the first eighth-seeded team to make it that far.

It's a tribute to coach Jeff Van Gundy, whose job teetered in the balance
when the Knicks were 21-21 late in the lockout-shortened season. It was
then that Madison Square Garden president Dave Checketts fired general
manager Ernie Grunfeld and talked to Phil Jackson about coaching the Knicks.

Checketts at first denied the contact, then said it occurred through
an intermediary and then admitted that, yes, he had indeed talked to Jackson
in person and lied to Van Gundy about it. For his part, Van Gundy remained
above the fray, insisting he was concerned only with the next game.

For the Knicks, that now comes Sunday in Indiana.

The Madison Square Garden fans, a savvy crowd, gave the embattled coach
a standing ovation, an unprecedented tribute, as the Knicks finished off
the Hawks.

``That was nice of them, but I'm real happy for the win for the guys
in the locker room,'' Van Gundy said in his usual understated style.